After saying that I was taking a bit of a summer break from "heavy" nonfiction reading, I must point out the two nonfic reviews I have in the current edition of Bookslut.

First up I reviewed Roger McCoy's biography of Alfred Wegener, Ending in Ice. Wegener is the man who first came up with the single continent theory (Pangea) for earth and thus the whole concept of continental drfit. And of course - he was soundly laughed off the stage by the establishment when he started asking questions about all this. (Why is the establishment always so terrified of change?) Wegener ended up doing a bunch of research in Greenland and ultimately dying there in a most untimely manner. He's a fascinating man and one who is relatively uknown which really bugs me. His story is the perfect sort of thing for bored middle-schooler everywhere - all about an innovative thinker figuring out a big mystery (literally a puzzle) and then sticking to his guns and hanging in there and doing good research right up until the day he dies.

Way better than cutting up a worm just so you can gross out the kid stuck sitting next to you.

Clare Dudman wrote a novel about Wegener (or maybe fictionalized biography would be a better term??) and I compare the two books a bit in my review. I thought her book was beautifully written but it is fiction and I wonder why it has gotten so much wider reviewed than McCoy's very well written biography. Do we prefer our history sugar coated with emotion and sentiment? Not sure, but something to think about.

I also reviewed Homes of the Heart: A Ramallah Chronicle by Farouq Wadi (tranlated by Dina Bosio and Christopher Tingley). I feel literally compelled to read books about the Middle East lately - to find something that gives me some sort of insight into what life is like there. I'm not interested in the fighting potitical tracts about who knows better what should be done - I just want to know who "they" are - to recognize "them".

I am so tired of hearing only about generalized groups like insurgents and terorrists and Islamisists. I just want to read about people.

Wadi grew up in Ramallah's sister town (mostly one town) and went into exile as a teenager. He returned to the area after 25 years to see it again, and wrote about not only its history but its modern confusion in this book. It covers visits in the late 1990s, so more recent events are not included but that is unnecessary. Homes is really all about what changes and what stays the same, and more than anything - what it means to have to leave behind the place that you love. If you want some idea of the sadness that pervades the Israeli/Palenstinian conflict, then I highly recommend this slim (116 pages) memoir.